Award-winning book to raise more funds for service heroes
The unique story of Oundle’s contribution to World War Two will be told again when a best-selling book by a former Oundle teacher will be reprinted by popular demand.
Oundle’s War raised over £7,000 for the Royal British Legion when it first appeared in 1995.
The 321-page hardback sold out within six weeks, appealing not only to local residents and former school pupils but also to the USAAF veterans stationed in the Oundle area during World War Two. With its veterans’ personal memories and more than 150 illustrations recalling the 1939-45 era, the book was praised for its assiduous research and won for its author, former Oundle School teacher Michael Downes the Leslie Black trophy awarded by the Legion’s local branch.
Mr Downes, who taught at Oundle School for over 30 years, will return to the town on 9 November to give a talk about the background to his book as part of the Oundle Festival of Literature programme.
All profits after publishing costs will again be donated to the Royal British Legion. “I'm delighted to be able to raise funds for this charity particularly at this time, having read about what some of our servicemen and their families are going through as a result of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan,” says Michael. Further details about the reprint and how to order can be obtained by phoning the Bookshop on 01832 277192 or by emailing books@oundle.co.uk
The unique story of Oundle’s contribution to World War Two will be told again when a best-selling book by a former Oundle teacher will be reprinted by popular demand.
Oundle’s War raised over £7,000 for the Royal British Legion when it first appeared in 1995.
The 321-page hardback sold out within six weeks, appealing not only to local residents and former school pupils but also to the USAAF veterans stationed in the Oundle area during World War Two. With its veterans’ personal memories and more than 150 illustrations recalling the 1939-45 era, the book was praised for its assiduous research and won for its author, former Oundle School teacher Michael Downes the Leslie Black trophy awarded by the Legion’s local branch.
Mr Downes, who taught at Oundle School for over 30 years, will return to the town on 9 November to give a talk about the background to his book as part of the Oundle Festival of Literature programme.
All profits after publishing costs will again be donated to the Royal British Legion. “I'm delighted to be able to raise funds for this charity particularly at this time, having read about what some of our servicemen and their families are going through as a result of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan,” says Michael. Further details about the reprint and how to order can be obtained by phoning the Bookshop on 01832 277192 or by emailing books@oundle.co.uk
88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
Oundle’s War
Memories of a Northamptonshire Town 1939-1945
With a Foreword by HRH The Duke of Gloucester GCVO
Remembrance Sunday in 1995 marked the 50th anniversary of the final acts in a drama which must be one of the most momentous of the 20th century.
Oundle’s War, published that year, preserved for posterity a record of some of the events which took place between 1939 and 1945, as lived by the people who saw them first-hand. The heroic, the comic, the atrocious and the bizarre – all found their place in its pages, which focused as much on the human interest as on the factual and historical detail. Praised by reviewers for its “assiduous research” (Legion magazine) the book by former Oundle school teacher Michael Downes is now being reprinted by popular demand.
Memories of the period have been gathered together from a wide range of sources, including interviews conducted by a team of 20 pupils from Oundle School and Prince William School. Those interviewed include not just veterans born and bred in Oundle, but also their families and those educated at its schools, along with residents who have settled more recently in the picturesque Northamptonshire town. Access to previously unpublished documents and photographs has made Oundle’s War a unique record of the experiences of the 1939-1945 generation.
The contents include chapters on life at the time in Oundle, personal recollections of members of the wartime generation who were involved in major military campaigns worldwide, and the testimony of prisoners of war both in Europe and Asia. A chapter on Friends and Allies pays tribute to the foreigners who fought the evil oppression of the Axis powers alongside the British people, notably the American aircrews based at the many airfields which surrounded Oundle.
All profits from the sales of Oundle’s War were and will be donated to the Royal British Legion, whose local representatives have collaborated in the making of the book. Oundle’s War has been a successful and lasting tribute to the wartime generation, and news of the reprint this year has been widely welcomed.
Among the people and the stories which make Oundle’s War a fascinating and moving document of our times are:
The former schoolmaster who found himself sitting a few tables away from Hitler in a Munich café before the war…
The extraordinary odyssey of the Polish clockmaker who fled to freedom from Siberia after the Soviet invasion of his country in September 1939, traveling 1,600 miles on foot…
The naturalist from Ashton who adopted 49 refugee children to save them from the Nazi death-camps…
The intelligence expert from Thapston, educated at Oundle, later to become a leading member of the team whose secret work on developing radar before the Second World War was to help save beleaguered Britain from disaster, and who ended his career as Chief Scientist at Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ)…
The headmaster weeping as he read out names of the latest casualties among ex-pupils…
A famous humorist’s view of the events at Dunkirk in May 1940…
The two men who masterminded Britain’s anti-submarine warfare from the Admiralty’s Operational Intelligence Centre during the Battle of the Atlantic…
The former Oundle pupil described as one of the most aggressive and successful submarine captains of the Second World War…
The 15-year-old Cotterstock Road girl who recorded her meeting with Hollywood star Clark Gable in her diary…
The full story behind the USAAF veteran’s national headline-hitting gift of 94 brand-new bicycles to children from villages in the area in 1992 to repay a half-century-old debt…
The princess’s ghostly meeting with a dead American airman in her garden at Barnwell…
The former Oundle School pupil’s account of his part in the midget submarine operation to destroy the German battleship Tirpitz in September 1943…
The North African veteran turned pacifist, who recalled his meeting with Mussolini…
The SAS Captain executed on Hitler’s orders following his capture on a secret mission in 1943, but praised by the German officer who interrogated him as “the bravest English officer I have ever met”…
The former Merchant Navy man’s memory of an unexpected meeting in the English Channel with a chivalrous E-boat captain…
The captain of the submarine HMS Seraph, who played a key role in the preparations for Operation ‘Torch’, and helped to trick Hitler by delivering ‘the Man who never was’…
The origins in Oundle School Workshops of the device used by British POWs at Stalag Luft III to make one of the most daring escapes of the war, immortalized in the story The Wooden Horse…
The Oundle-educated Chindit Major, killed in action in Burma, June 1944, but not before he had written a poem ridiculing the patriotic nonsense that the British press was publishing about ‘Our Jungle boys’…
The former RAF Intelligence Officer’s memory of opening Bomber Command Operational Order No 1 in front of the Air Vice Marshal just before 6 June 1944…
The award-winning television scriptwriter from Glapthorn, and his account of what became unofficially known as the Charge of the Light Brigade in Normandy, July 1944…
The British POW at Dresden, an ex-Evening Telegraph printer, who witnessed the city’s destruction…
The Oundle resident who found himself amidst the débris of the Chancellery in Berlin a few days after Hitler’s death, and saw what the Russians had done in the Führer’s bedroom…
The POW who recounted the harrowing story of his barbaric treatment at the hand of Japanese captors, his abortive escape from the Sonkurai labour camp on the Thailand-Burma railway in 1943 and his reprieve from sentence of death thanks to the courage of a fellow British officer…
The Oundle man who heard the explosion of the atom bomb at Nagasaki, 30 miles from his POW camp, would have liked to go back to Japan, and remembered some of his guards with affection…
The former USAAF navigator’s account of a typical bombing mission from Polebrook, and his mixed feelings about the experience of war…
Memories of a Northamptonshire Town 1939-1945
With a Foreword by HRH The Duke of Gloucester GCVO
Remembrance Sunday in 1995 marked the 50th anniversary of the final acts in a drama which must be one of the most momentous of the 20th century.
Oundle’s War, published that year, preserved for posterity a record of some of the events which took place between 1939 and 1945, as lived by the people who saw them first-hand. The heroic, the comic, the atrocious and the bizarre – all found their place in its pages, which focused as much on the human interest as on the factual and historical detail. Praised by reviewers for its “assiduous research” (Legion magazine) the book by former Oundle school teacher Michael Downes is now being reprinted by popular demand.
Memories of the period have been gathered together from a wide range of sources, including interviews conducted by a team of 20 pupils from Oundle School and Prince William School. Those interviewed include not just veterans born and bred in Oundle, but also their families and those educated at its schools, along with residents who have settled more recently in the picturesque Northamptonshire town. Access to previously unpublished documents and photographs has made Oundle’s War a unique record of the experiences of the 1939-1945 generation.
The contents include chapters on life at the time in Oundle, personal recollections of members of the wartime generation who were involved in major military campaigns worldwide, and the testimony of prisoners of war both in Europe and Asia. A chapter on Friends and Allies pays tribute to the foreigners who fought the evil oppression of the Axis powers alongside the British people, notably the American aircrews based at the many airfields which surrounded Oundle.
All profits from the sales of Oundle’s War were and will be donated to the Royal British Legion, whose local representatives have collaborated in the making of the book. Oundle’s War has been a successful and lasting tribute to the wartime generation, and news of the reprint this year has been widely welcomed.
Among the people and the stories which make Oundle’s War a fascinating and moving document of our times are:
The former schoolmaster who found himself sitting a few tables away from Hitler in a Munich café before the war…
The extraordinary odyssey of the Polish clockmaker who fled to freedom from Siberia after the Soviet invasion of his country in September 1939, traveling 1,600 miles on foot…
The naturalist from Ashton who adopted 49 refugee children to save them from the Nazi death-camps…
The intelligence expert from Thapston, educated at Oundle, later to become a leading member of the team whose secret work on developing radar before the Second World War was to help save beleaguered Britain from disaster, and who ended his career as Chief Scientist at Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ)…
The headmaster weeping as he read out names of the latest casualties among ex-pupils…
A famous humorist’s view of the events at Dunkirk in May 1940…
The two men who masterminded Britain’s anti-submarine warfare from the Admiralty’s Operational Intelligence Centre during the Battle of the Atlantic…
The former Oundle pupil described as one of the most aggressive and successful submarine captains of the Second World War…
The 15-year-old Cotterstock Road girl who recorded her meeting with Hollywood star Clark Gable in her diary…
The full story behind the USAAF veteran’s national headline-hitting gift of 94 brand-new bicycles to children from villages in the area in 1992 to repay a half-century-old debt…
The princess’s ghostly meeting with a dead American airman in her garden at Barnwell…
The former Oundle School pupil’s account of his part in the midget submarine operation to destroy the German battleship Tirpitz in September 1943…
The North African veteran turned pacifist, who recalled his meeting with Mussolini…
The SAS Captain executed on Hitler’s orders following his capture on a secret mission in 1943, but praised by the German officer who interrogated him as “the bravest English officer I have ever met”…
The former Merchant Navy man’s memory of an unexpected meeting in the English Channel with a chivalrous E-boat captain…
The captain of the submarine HMS Seraph, who played a key role in the preparations for Operation ‘Torch’, and helped to trick Hitler by delivering ‘the Man who never was’…
The origins in Oundle School Workshops of the device used by British POWs at Stalag Luft III to make one of the most daring escapes of the war, immortalized in the story The Wooden Horse…
The Oundle-educated Chindit Major, killed in action in Burma, June 1944, but not before he had written a poem ridiculing the patriotic nonsense that the British press was publishing about ‘Our Jungle boys’…
The former RAF Intelligence Officer’s memory of opening Bomber Command Operational Order No 1 in front of the Air Vice Marshal just before 6 June 1944…
The award-winning television scriptwriter from Glapthorn, and his account of what became unofficially known as the Charge of the Light Brigade in Normandy, July 1944…
The British POW at Dresden, an ex-Evening Telegraph printer, who witnessed the city’s destruction…
The Oundle resident who found himself amidst the débris of the Chancellery in Berlin a few days after Hitler’s death, and saw what the Russians had done in the Führer’s bedroom…
The POW who recounted the harrowing story of his barbaric treatment at the hand of Japanese captors, his abortive escape from the Sonkurai labour camp on the Thailand-Burma railway in 1943 and his reprieve from sentence of death thanks to the courage of a fellow British officer…
The Oundle man who heard the explosion of the atom bomb at Nagasaki, 30 miles from his POW camp, would have liked to go back to Japan, and remembered some of his guards with affection…
The former USAAF navigator’s account of a typical bombing mission from Polebrook, and his mixed feelings about the experience of war…
See pictures at http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=73181&l=de63e&id=573475659
8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
What they said about Oundle’s War:
“A unique record of the experiences of the 1939-45 generation” – Peterborough & Oundle Herald & Post, 4 May, 1995
“An anecdotal history of the war of surprising breadth and interest. (…) [Michael Downes’ book has ensured that many of the voices of that era will survive for posterity. His contribution as selector, editor and arranger is done with the tact and skilful self-effacement that those tasks require, and] the result is that rare thing – a volume of local history that can be read with enjoyment by those who know nothing of the locality.” – David Warnes, Conference & Common Room, Journal of the Headmasters’ Conference Schools, Spring 1997.
“A memorable account of what World War II did to the small town, its residents, school old boys and troops (mostly American airmen) stationed nearby. (…) It’s a monumental volume.” – Mike Colton, Peterborough Evening Telegraph, 27 March 1996.
“A fascinating collection of individual memories and opinions, showing how these experiences came to colour people’s lives. From Hitler’s bunker in Berlin, to the relief of Belsen concentration camp, from Dresden to Changi Gaol, a citizen of Oundle was there. (…) The assiduous research of Michael Downes, the stories he has unearthed (and the pictures to illustrate them) make this book a unique compilation.” – LEGION Magazine, Jan-Feb 1996.
“Michael Downes wanted this book to be an expression of sympathy and gratitude as well as an evocation of a world at war in all its aspects. He has succeeded brilliantly, compiling an immensely readable and inspiring record of service and social life.” – Dennis Ford, The Old Oundelian, 1995-96.
See pictures at http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=73181&l=de63e&id=573475659
8888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
What they said about Oundle’s War:
“A unique record of the experiences of the 1939-45 generation” – Peterborough & Oundle Herald & Post, 4 May, 1995
“An anecdotal history of the war of surprising breadth and interest. (…) [Michael Downes’ book has ensured that many of the voices of that era will survive for posterity. His contribution as selector, editor and arranger is done with the tact and skilful self-effacement that those tasks require, and] the result is that rare thing – a volume of local history that can be read with enjoyment by those who know nothing of the locality.” – David Warnes, Conference & Common Room, Journal of the Headmasters’ Conference Schools, Spring 1997.
“A memorable account of what World War II did to the small town, its residents, school old boys and troops (mostly American airmen) stationed nearby. (…) It’s a monumental volume.” – Mike Colton, Peterborough Evening Telegraph, 27 March 1996.
“A fascinating collection of individual memories and opinions, showing how these experiences came to colour people’s lives. From Hitler’s bunker in Berlin, to the relief of Belsen concentration camp, from Dresden to Changi Gaol, a citizen of Oundle was there. (…) The assiduous research of Michael Downes, the stories he has unearthed (and the pictures to illustrate them) make this book a unique compilation.” – LEGION Magazine, Jan-Feb 1996.
“Michael Downes wanted this book to be an expression of sympathy and gratitude as well as an evocation of a world at war in all its aspects. He has succeeded brilliantly, compiling an immensely readable and inspiring record of service and social life.” – Dennis Ford, The Old Oundelian, 1995-96.
See pictures at http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=73181&l=de63e&id=573475659
No comments:
Post a Comment